iRobot's Roomba 690 vacuum offers lots of functionality for the price, including control via smartphone and support for voice commands through popular smart home devices.

When you think of robot vacuums, chances are you think of iRobot's Roomba line. And while the company's high-end models are impressive, the entry-level Roomba 690 ($374.99) offers a lot of value for about half the price. Not only does it feature Wi-Fi connectivity and app control, it supports voice commands via Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant as well. The $220 Eufy RoboVac 11 can't be beat on price, and remains our Editors' Choice for affordable robot vacuums. But if you're looking to take the next step up, the Roomba 690 is a great choice.

Design

Circular in shape, the Roomba 690 has a black-and-silver body that measures 13.0 inches wide and 3.7 inches tall. That's just about the same size as the Bissell SmartClean 1974, which is just a little shorter at 3.4 inches. The RoboVac 11 is the shortest of the bunch, at 3.0 inches. The 690 should be able to clean under most furniture, though it might have trouble with very low-profile couches and cabinets. At 7.4 pounds, the vacuum is a bit hefty for its size—the SmartClean and RoboVac 11 are both lighter at 5.5 and 5.8 pounds, respectively—but you don't have to lift it much.

On top of the vacuum, you'll find a large silver Clean button that starts, pauses, and ends each session. Below that you'll find a home icon that sends the robot back to its dock. Above it is a spot cleaning icon, and above that a backlit panel shows you errors, Wi-Fi connectivity, and battery status.

A removable dustbin is located in the back of the bot, while the front houses the RCON sensor (room confinement) and bumper. Underneath, you'll find cliff sensors, charging contacts, a front roller, two main wheels, two roller brushes, and a side brush.

The Roomba 690 comes with a charging dock and a dual-mode virtual wall beacon (pictured). The virtual wall runs on two AA batteries, included in the box. Compared with the big block you get with the Bobsweep Pet Hair Plus, the Roomba's virtual wall is smaller and much more intuitive to use. It's a slim, squarish tower with a switch in the back that lets you toggle between two modes. If you slide it up, it emits a 10-foot digital barrier to keep the vacuum out of rooms and spaces you don't want it to enter. If you slide it down, it creates a circular "halo" barrier with a four-foot diameter. This is handy for pet owners, as you can place it near food and water bowls to keep the Roomba from knocking them over as it cleans.

Setup and App

Getting the Roomba 690 ready is a piece of a cake. Once you've plugged in the dock, all you have to do is flip over the vacuum and pull out the yellow plastic tab sticking out from the battery. Then just stick the robot on the dock and let it charge until the battery is full—about three hours.

When that's done, download the iRobot app from the Apple App Store or Google Play and follow the on-screen prompts to create an account and pair the robot over Wi-Fi (it only supports the 2.4GHz band).

The app itself is streamlined and intuitive. There's only one button on the main screen: Clean. Pressing it will activate the Roomba, and you can do it even if you're not on the same Wi-Fi network (so you can turn it on when you're at work, for instance). In the top right corner, you can keep an eye on battery life. At the bottom of the screen, there are three other menus: Lifetime Performance Log, Weekly Schedule, and More.

Lifetime Performance Log is exactly what it sounds like—a record of all your Roomba's cleanings. You can see stats like the number of jobs, total duration, and how many times it turned on its Dirt Detect feature. You can also look at the individual stats for each job. The Weekly Schedule tab is pretty self-explanatory and simple. You just select the days and time you want the Roomba to clean. The More tab is where you can find the Locate Roomba button. When pressed, the Roomba will play a little ditty to help you find it. It's also where you'll find care instructions, FAQs, videos, manuals, and settings.

Alexa, Start My Roomba

All you have to do is select the Connected Home menu in the app and the device of your choice to find simple instructions to enable voice control. I have an Amazon Echo Dot at home, so I tested the 690 using Alexa voice commands.

The process is simple. All you have to do is open the Amazon Alexa app, go to the Skills menu, select iRobot Home, and hit the Enable button. Once you've done that you can start or stop a clean, tell the Roomba to go back to its dock, ask for status updates, and ask the vacuum where it is, all through your Alexa device.

In practice, the voice commands are simple to use and for the most part work well. I only experienced snags if I tried to issue commands out of order. For instance, if I first asked the Roomba to dock and then asked it to stop, Alexa would tell me that the bot wasn't running—even as I watched it navigate around my furniture trying to find the dock. That's a normal and fairly common quirk of using Alexa to manage smart home gadgets, it just takes some getting used to.

Performance

I tested the 690 over a week at my apartment. Suction is quite powerful. After a 70-minute cleaning session, I was pleased to find the dustbin brimming to capacity. But while it sucked up a lot of dirt, dust, and hair, it had some trouble navigating around my living room rug. Sometimes it had difficulty getting on top of the rug, which was surprising since it's a relatively low pile. But to the vacuum's credit, if it was having trouble it sometimes turned around and reversed onto the rug instead.

However, I frequently received push notifications saying the Roomba was stuck by a cliff, when it was sitting safely on or near my flat rug. That might be because of my rug's Georgia O'Keefe-inspired geometric patterns and black border. Robotic vacuums with infrared sensors commonly come with warnings that they might not work as well on dark flooring. According to iRobot, the 690's cliff sensors can sometimes confuse dark colors as an edge or stair. There's unfortunately not much you can do, other than move it to another location. I experienced the same issue while testing the Bissell SmartClean 1974 and the Bobsweep PetHair Plus.

While vacuums like the Eufy RoboVac 11 can safely trawl near or over cables without eating them up, that's not the case with the Roomba. When I wasn't looking, it sucked up two of the charging cords under my desk. This was the first time a robot vacuum managed to get into that area, so I hadn't thought to clear it beforehand. Thankfully, removing the cables was easy—though I didn't get a push notification from the robot telling me what happened.

In addition to eating up some of my cords (none of which were damaged), the vacuum has a tendency to push objects around. Some stray shoes and the occasional shopping bag ended up in different rooms because the Roomba brought them along for a ride. You can use the virtual wall to cordon off any problem areas, but you'll still want to make sure the floor is relatively clear.

Battery life is decent. On a full charge, the Roomba 690 lasted about 70 minutes. That was enough to clean my living room, kitchen, hallway, and part of my bedroom. It's much better than the 45 minutes you get with the Dyson 360 Eye on maximum power.

As for docking, the 690 isn't the greatest at finding its way back. I tried telling it to dock three ways: with Alexa, with the button on the robot itself, and with the app. Each time, it wandered off in the exact opposite direction of the docking station. If I picked it up and placed it near the station, it managed to reorient itself and docked successfully. But without my guiding hand, the bot ended up going around in circles and bumping into walls looking for home.

That brings me to another small disappointment: the lack of app-based steering controls. I would've appreciated the ability to tell the Roomba where to go from my phone, as picking it up and placing it where it needs to go is a tad cumbersome.

Lastly, the Roomba 690 is noisy, though that's pretty much the case with just about every robot vacuum on the market. You won't want to take any phone calls while the bot is cleaning, but it's no louder than a traditional standing vacuum.

Conclusions

If you want a Wi-Fi-connected vacuum you can control with your phone, the iRobot Roomba 690 is the best deal at less than $400. It has good suction power, an easy-to-use app, and voice control via Amazon or Google. Pricier models like the Roomba 890, 960, and 980 offer the same voice control and app options, but stronger navigation skills and carpeting cleaning, among other features. If app and voice control isn't high on your list of priorities, it's hard to beat the Eufy RoboVac 11. It's $155 less than the Roomba 690, handles dark flooring well, and is the quietest vacuum we've tested.

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About the Author

Victoria Song is the wearables and smart home analyst at PCMag. Since graduating from Temple University?s Japan Campus in 2010, she's been found reporting and editing in every corner of the newsroom at The ACCJ Journal, The Japan News, and New York bureau of The Yomiuri Shimbun. In her spare time, she bankrupts herself going to theater, buying expa... See Full Bio

iRobot Roomba 690

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